题目内容
MOSCOW(Reuters) – Russia hopes the United States will extend the deadline to retire its space shuttles beyond 2011 and has heard unofficially it is possible, the head of Russia"s space agency was quoted as saying on Friday.
The U.S. space agency NASA(美国宇航局) plans six more missions by its fleet of aging space shuttles by late next year or early 2011 after the construction of the $100 billion International Space Station (ISS) is completed. The shuttles will then be retired. But the head of Roscosmos, Russia"s space agency, said he would prefer to see further shuttle missions to the Space Station, now in orbit 360 km (225 miles) above Earth. "From some sources we have learned that it is possible to extend the life of the shuttle beyond 2011," Roscosmos chief Anatoly Perminov was quoted by RIA news agency as saying. Reuters was not invited to the briefing(简报会). "Then the situation would change substantially and it would be possible to work jointly with the Americans, unlike now, when the main burden (for the ISS) lies with the Russian side," Perminov was quoted as saying by Interfax. Perminov said he had not been told this through official channels, Interfax news agency reported. He added that NASA"s new chief and former astronaut Charles Bolden would visit Russia"s Baikonur cosmodrome on September 30 in his first foreign trip.
NASA"s future strategy is currently under review with the main focus on possible flights to Mars. It is also encouraging a private space taxi project to the ISS. NASA"s current plan, conceived under former President George Bush after the Columbia accident, is to complete the space station, retire the shuttles and build new spaceships. A new rocket and capsule to transport astronauts to the ISS is also being developed but will not be operational until about 2015. Until then, NASA will rely on Roscosmos and must pay $50 million per seat for flights to the ISS by Soyuz capsules.
The U.S., Russian and Chinese governments are the only entities currently capable of human orbital space flight, although several U.S. companies are developing vehicles and support services to do so.
1.What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A．NASA agrees to extend the life of the shuttles beyond 2011.
B．Reuters was not invited to the briefing.
C．The US would work jointly with Russia.
D．NASA’s new chief would visit Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome.
2.NASA’s current plan includes all the following EXCEPT .
A．completing International Space Station
B．flights to Mars
C．retiring the current space shuttles
D．building new spaceships
3.If the US doesn’t extend the life of the shuttles beyond 2011, .
A．International Space Station will be quit
B．Roscosmos will have to build more spaceships
C．NASA will have to quicken the development of the new rocket and capsule
D．Roscosmos will be burdened with the transportation to ISS
4.We can infer from the passage that .
A．China has already been involved in the project of flights to Mars
B．it is certain the NASA will retire the current space shuttles as planned
C．NASA is considering Russia’s suggestion
D．NASA will be able to provide a private space taxi project to the ISS by 2015.
1.A
2.B
3.D
4.C
【解析】略
If your boss asks you to work in Moscow this year, he’d better offer you more money to do so — or even double that depending on where you live now．That’s because Moscow has just been found to be the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resources Consulting．
Using the cost of living in New York as a base, Mercer determined Moscow is 34．4 percent more expensive including the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment．
A two-bedroom flat in Moscow now costs $4,000 a month; a CD $24．83, and an international newspaper $6．30, according to Mercer．By comparison, a fast food meal with a hamburger （汉堡包） is a steal at $4．80．
London takes the No．2 place, up from No．5 a year ago, thanks to higher cost of housing and a stronger British pound relative to the dollar．Mercer estimates （估算） London is 26 percent more expensive than New York these days．Following London closely are Seoul and Tokyo, both of which are 22 percent more expensive than New York, while No．5 Hong Kong is 19 percent more costly．
Among North American cities, New York and Los Angeles are the most expensive and are the only two listed in the top 50 of the world’s most expensive cities．But both have fallen since last year’s study — New York came in 15th, down from 10th place, while Los Angeles fell to 42nd from 29th place a year ago．San Francisco came in a distant third at No．54, down 20 places from a year earlier．
Toronto, meanwhile, is Canada’s most expensive city but fell 35 places to take 82nd place worldwide．In Australia, Sydney is the priciest place to live in and No．21 worldwide．
【小题1】What do the underlined words “a steal” in Paragraph 3 mean?
| A．an act of stealing | B．something delicious |
| C．something very cheap | D．an act of buying |
| A．the high cost of clothing |
| B．the stronger pound against the dollar |
| C．its expensive transportation |
| D．the high prices of fast food meals |
| A．Tokyo． | B．Hong Kong． | C．Moscow． | D．Sydney． |
| A．New York． | B．Los Angeles． | C．San Francisco． | D．Toronto． |
Is it time to kick Russia out of the BRICs （金砖四国）? If so, it may end up sounding like a famous ball-point pen maker-BIC. An argument is being made that Goldman Sach’s famous marketing device（策略）,the BRICs, should really be the BICs.
“Is Russia really worth the name BRICs?” asks Anders Aslund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in an article for Foreigh Policy. Aslund, who is also co-author with Andrew Kuchins of “The Russian Balance Sheet”, thinks the Russia of Putin and Medvedev is just not worthy of inclusion alongside Brazil, India and China in the list of future economic powerhouses. He writes:
“The country’s economic performance has fallen to such a weak level that one must ask whether it has any say at all on the global economy, compared with the other members of its group. I have just returned from Moscow, which is always dull around this season. For the last seven years, Russia has taken very few measures to improve its economy. Instead, the state has been living on oil and gas. ”
Economically, Aslund has the numbers on his side. The International Monetary Fund figures that the Russian economy will fall by 6.7 percent in 2009, while China will grow 8.5 percent and India 5.4 percent. There is less of a case for Brazil, with a fall of 0.7 percent, but it is still doing
far better than Russia.
But the BRICs are not just about economy. As is mentioned above, it is a marketing device to encourage investors to focus on the big promising players. From an investment standpoint, it could be argued that Russia is leading the BRICs. Its stock（股票）market is up 128 percent this year while around 80 percent is for the other three.
At very least, however, Russia’s economic underperformance and stock market outperfoumance does suggest it is indeed one of the group.
【小题1】According to the passage, which country will enjoy the biggest increase in 2009?
| A．China. | B．Russia. | C．Brazil. | D．India. |
| A．Russia’s economic performance is far worse than the other three |
| B．Russia’s leaders are not good at managing economy |
| C．Russia has taken effective measures to improve its economy |
| D．Russia will no longer attract investors from other countries |
| A．Anders Aslund is working for the Russian government |
| B．Russia outperfoumed the other three countries in stock market |
| C．most people disagree Russia is included in BRICs |
| D．the BRICs would end up being the BICs sooner or later |
| A．suggest it’s time to kick Russia out of the BRICs? |
| B．feel worried about the economy of the BRICs |
| C．think Russia is worth being one of the group |
| D．show disappointment to Russia’s economy |
The World’s Most Impressive subways
【小题1】Which of the following gives the passengers the best visual enjoyment?
| A．The Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines． | B．The Moscow Metro． |
| C．The London Metro． | D．The Hong Kong MTR． |
| A．the Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines | B．the Moscow Metro |
| C．the London Metro | D．the Hong Kong MTR |
| A．is the busiest system in the world |
| B．carries the most people each day |
| C．may be larger than the Chicago Subway in the future |
| D．has become the world's largest subway since it opened |
| A．give us a brief introduction to some subway systems |
| B．introduce the working system of some railways station |
| C．tell the general background of world-wide transportation |
| D．show the historical development of underground system |
